MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh recently spoke with Hello Kitty Online Executive Producer Grant Wei about the progress of the game for the North American market.

It has been over a year since I previewed Hello Kitty Online and I wondered why it was still in beta. I soon discovered the reason when I spoke with Executive Producer Grant Wei of Aeria Games who is bringing the Hello Kitty Online world to the North American market. I had participated in the Founder's Beta - the very first beta run that although was in English, was not the North American Beta. I was playing a version created for the Asian market. Little wonder than, that the GMs I spoke to in-game were based anywhere from Malaysia to the Philippines. This is Hello Kitty for the North American market. Localized, to American spelling, pop-culture references and, I am told, it's much less of a grind.

Targeted at the 13+ Hello Kitty fan, Hello Kitty Online may not be COPA complaint, but Grant stresses strict chat filtering, strong GM presence in game, moderated forums and a zero-tolerance policy for cheating and exploiting.

Read Checking in with HKO

Hmm, so, let's see:

* Skill based progression...
* Full-blown harvesting that ties into the day / night cycle of the gameworld...
* Crafting that produces the coolest items and is thus meaningful...
* Good housing where you get to build the houses...
* Pet breeding...

Am I going out of my mind or does Hello Kitty Online sound like a game with some robust sandbox subsystems?

Well... that's just...

I know... mind-boggling isn't it??

I like how they had to dumb it down for the North American audience. 

Originally posted by laephis

I like how they had to dumb it down for the North American audience. 

Huh, It just shows that that NA dont care much about grinding..The fact remains  there not much support for grinding Asian games..Look at Jade Dynasty,Dragon Oath, and others..The player base is small.

But there something special about Hello Kitty..It just brings the little kid out of the Adult..It was funny to see on the Kitty forums of how many Adults are playing and or gong to play once Open beta starts..It just don't have the blood and gore theme.But has good features to keep anyone entertain for some months ahead.

Originally posted by Nikopol

Hmm, so, let's see:

* Skill based progression...
* Full-blown harvesting that ties into the day / night cycle of the gameworld...
* Crafting that produces the coolest items and is thus meaningful...
* Good housing where you get to build the houses...
* Pet breeding...

Am I going out of my mind or does Hello Kitty Online sound like a game with some robust sandbox subsystems?

Well... that's just...

 

It sounds that way, but it's an item based game. You only get stats and HP/Stam from items. To equip them you need to be a certain level. It's nearly impossible to level without doing the quests. Which are long, boring, a grind, and not even worth it.The items/materials you need to make/gather are usually worth more than what the quest pays out.

Anywway I love that now that the game has been partially handed over to Aeria to "North Americanize" that the game is targeted to tweens. Did they just somehow forget the huge adult audience? It wouldn't bad if the chat filter weren't so strong as to filter "poo" and "but it's" (yes because it manages to says tits OMG!). I can easily see this becoming more like Free Realms, the adult market ignored in favour of the "tweens" and making anyone over the age of 17 accused of being a paedophile. Which is a concern when currently what makes Hello Kitty worth it is the community. Pandering on on your own gets tiring and boring very quickly. Without being able to talk to people without being accused of being some sort of pervert, how can you get that sense of community? You can't.

Hello Kitty has a lot of ideas and they are really good, but currently it's not living up to the image it presents. Perhaps after this beta things will change. I know I'm counting on it or I won't be back again.